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In my humble opinion

So Dozer is all packed up and ready to fly to Bangkok and I’m just waiting for my flight to Korea.

I’ve just sent this to someone to try and explain Adventure biking (from a novice adventure bikers perspective) and what it’s been like for me on this trip and thought I may as well post it on my blog.

You have to LOVE riding a bike for hundreds of km a day every day in the searing heat and freezing cold, or if you are lucky perfect days. Adventure biking isn’t about the travel, OBVIOSULY that is a huge part, but it’s about the riding (otherwise you would be backpacking) you are dirty and dusty or muddy or sweaty or soaking wet or freezing cold all the time every day, but there are some days where you are none of the above (usually rest days unless you are working on your bike). Today I tried to SCRUB the one bag I have to carry my stuff to Korea, the other bag went with the bike. I cannot get it clean. The dirt is embedded in it, as it is in my hands and fingernails. I am SO having a manicure before I go home (I never have manicures). You have to camp and I mean wild camp for days with no bathroom there is no other way to travel (in my humble opinion) and get off the beaten track and afford to do this kind of trip. Even if there are very cheap hostels and guest houses (you MUST be prepared to stay in flea infested places if you insist on not camping, as it may be all you can get in a remote place, and sometimes even with a tent you take them for safety reasons or to get out of a very bad storm) they are not in every town and anyway camping is the best way to do it 🙂

I LOVE this I cannot even tell you how much I love every bit of this hardship 🙂 but if you don’t love it you can’t do it, especially not the off-road way I want to do it, and I would never do it any other way. I know this makes it sound awful but it’s not, actually it’s FANTASTIC and this is what I love about it the unbelievable challenge. Yes you can stick to tar roads and ride a lovely comfy fast tour bike and stay in 1st world countries and in guesthouses and not camp, but seriously that is travelling not adventure biking. It’s the wild camping not showering, peeing into a bottle because it raining and or freezing outside your tent and you just cannot face going out there in the middle of the night, that I just cannot see many people doing.

The rotten trench foot and from 4 to 7 days camping in a row, not showering and being wet, and all your gear being wet, you don’t need to do this unless you do something like the BAM, so fear not you are safe from that much extreme unless you choose it 🙂

I know this sounds bad but it isn’t its great and what is greater is the unbelievable feeling of freedom you have on your bike not being crammed like a sardine into a flying tin or sitting next to someone with really bad BO on a bus. It’s the people you meet especially in a remote place or when things go wrong. Let alone the spectacular scenery, or buying petrol from a ger, or getting given smelly smoked dried fish that actually tastes quite nice. I just cannot see myself going back to backpacking. I’d rather go half the distance in twice the time and do it on a bike.